Older cars race at Sonoma Raceway — they’re very loud, very fast and some of them start with a crank.

Let’s hear it for the Corvette. This year is the 60th anniversary of America’s iconic sports car and over this weekend (May 18-19, 2013) the Corvettes are at Sonoma Raceway (what used to be called Sears Point and, later, Infineon) in all their thundering glory. Corvettes are loud — listen to those big guttural V8 engines, let loose on the track in all their unmuffled power — and they are clearly crowd favorites.

Many of the Corvettes I spotted were from the first generation (C1, in Corvette-speak), but there was a smattering from later iterations of the two-seater made by Chevrolet.

There were also more than 300 other cars — some came to Sears Point inside gleaming and expensive car haulers, others on trailers hitched to pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles. Some of the cars were being wrenched on by their owners, others by team mechanics.

The historic races continue Sunday (May 19) and more information can be found here. The raceway is near the intersection of Highways 37 and 121 in Sonoma County, Calif.